Group to build 500 schools across country

Kolkata, June 23 (IANS) Round Table India (RTI), a non-profit organisation which has tie-ups with several state governments, will build 500 school blocks across the country in the next five years, its president said here Saturday.

RTI will engage in the project in association with a central government programme, “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan”.

“Through our programme, ‘Freedom Through Education’ (FTE), we have in the last 12 years built 1250 schools. We hope to build at least 100 school blocks every year for the next five years,” RTI president Ashwini Kumar Hemadev told mediapersons here.

“According to a report by World literacy Foundation, illiteracy has been costing our economy around $53 billion annually. There is income imbalance to the tune of 30 percent to 42 percent between a literate and an illiterate person. Through FTE we hope to cure this imbalance,” said Hemadev.

The RTI, in its golden jubilee year, will be dedicating 107 school blocks during the year.

“Formed in 1962, we will be dedicating 107 school blocks to the country in our golden jubilee year with a view to promote education in areas lacking educational infrastructure,” Hemadev added.

The organisation identifies areas lacking infrastructure, then provides the basic schooling infrastructure before handing them over to the government school administration.

The organisation will inaugurate a 12-classroom school block at Hooghly’s Begampur Sunday.